Logistics
Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project Space and Sexual Assault Policies
PGRP's policies regarding our Convergence Space and Sexual Assault.
PGRP Convergence Space Policy
To protect this space and those utilizing it, please abide by the following:
- This is a safe and sober space. Drugs, alcohol, and intoxicated individuals are not welcome.
- This is a private space. The use of cameras or recording devices in it is not allowed. Media personnel may only enter if explicitly invited by a member of the Media Working Group, in consultation with the Logistics Working Group and the individuals present at the space.
- No law enforcement personnel are allowed into the space at any time.
- This is not a secure space. Please do not bring any illicit or banned materials—including those covered under recent city ordinances—into it.
- Respect the neighborhood. We are guests here, so be respectful or our neighbors and this working-class community. Please be on good behavior: no graffiti, littering, blocking sidewalks, loitering outside of the space, public alcohol or drug consumption, shoplifting, or other bullshit. When parking bicycles or motor vehicles please be conscientious and do not block doorways or driveways.
The individuals staffing the convergence space are empowered to enforce these rules. They are also empowered to expel anyone being physically or verbally abusive, engaging in racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise oppressive behavior. Anyone experiencing or witnessing such behavior should report it immediately to a staff person who will, if possible, consult with on-site PGRP members, and who is empowered to make the final decision on expulsion.
Bus routes that service the convergence space include:
- From Oakland: 59U (Forbes & Bigelow)
- From Downtown: 56E (4th Ave & PPG)
- From Lawrenceville: 91A (Butler St. & Main) to 53F (Main & 22nd)
- From Bloomfield: 54C to 59U (Murray & Hazelwood)
- From Southside: Walk across Hot Metal Bridge or Birmingham Bridge to catch 56E on 2nd Ave.
PGRP Sexual Assault Policy
Perpetrators of sexual violence/assault/harassment are not welcome in Pittsburgh or at any G-20 organizational spaces. This includes people who have perpetrated in the past*, people currently engaged in or running away from accountability processes, and people who refuse to respect the PGRP consent guidelines. People who violate consent will be directed to leave G-20 organizational spaces and housing arrangements. Given the short time frame, lack of available personnel, and likelihood of state repression we do not have the ability to carry out accountability processes of our own within this artificially constructed and temporary community of protesters.
Perpetrators' presence should not hinder survivors' participation in G-20 mobilizations (though perpetrators are not welcome regardless of survivors' plans). We are resisting the G-20 in large part because it acts WITHOUT accountability to or consent of the people it fucks over. Don't replicate the same paradigm of domination and abuse that you're claiming to want to smash.
*We understand and respect that other communities have engaged in their own processes around these incidents. If you have gone through an accountability process and the survivor, joined by the community, feels that you have sufficiently dealt with your shit, this statement does not include you.
Consent Guidelines for G-20 Resistance Spaces and Housing
(Prepared by the ad-hoc PGRP sexual assault group)
Consistently asking for consent and listening to your sexual partner at every step in every sexual encounter, regardless of length, history, or specific situation, is the only way to prevent sexual assault from happening. Consent includes asking, listening, and respecting; it does not include coercion, expectations, or assumptions.
Consent: Consent is actively and voluntarily expressed agreement. Doing personal work to consistently seek consent and respect the times when it is not given helps to combat rape culture, and informed consent, sexual and otherwise, is necessary in the building of strong, healthy anti-authoritarian communities. The following do not qualify as consent: silence, passivity, and coerced acquiescence. Body movements, non-verbal responses such as moans, or the appearance of physical arousal do not, necessarily, constitute consent. Further, if someone is intoxicated, they may not be in a position to give you consent. Consent is required each and every time there is sexual activity, regardless of the parties' relationship, prior sexual history, or current activity.
Sexual Assault: Sexual assault is any non-consensual sexual interaction. Sexual assault happens, and it happens in activist and radical communities as much as anywhere else. Sexual assault can be perpetrated by a complete stranger, but is often perpetrated by someone known and trusted by the survivor and community. Sexual assault is a tool of domination, of taking power, and can rob someone of their self respect, self worth, and autonomy. Sexual assault is rooted in broader systems of oppression—such as patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, homophobia, and colonialism—and is not separable from them in how and why it is perpetrated, experienced, and dealt with.
Rape Culture: Rape culture is the culture in which sexual assault and other forms of sexual violence are condoned, excused and even encouraged. Rape culture is part of a broader culture of violence, wherein people are socialized to inhabit different positions in hierarchical relationships, to commodify their fellow human beings, and to relate to each other through violence and coercion.
We are survivor centric and survivor oriented. When a decision needs to be made to give "benefit of the doubt" to a perpetrator or support to a survivor, the preference will be to support the survivor. State language (e.g. "allegations") which serves to devalue and cast doubt on survivors' experiences, is completely unacceptable and has zero space in survivor support during the G-20 or elsewhere.
Support Structure for Survivors of Sexualized Violence and Assault
If you experience harassment, abuse, sexual assault, or any other kind of consent violation while resisting the G-20 this September, or if a perpetrator of sexual violence is interfering with your participation in the G-20 resistance movement, or for any other reason you need support to deal with sexualized violence, please come to us. There will be trained and experienced advocates and support people for survivors of sexual assault at the WELLNESS SPACE (located in the clinic). People staffing housing and other spaces, as well as medics and antiauthoritarian-minded legal observers (note: not of the ACLU kind) should also be able to put you in contact with us.
We can offer you:
- Support, caring, and listening
- Advocacy on your behalf, including the removal of perpetrators of violence
- Emergency housing changes to quiet, safer space housing
- Transport to the Pittsburgh rape crisis center
- Medical, herbal, and wellness (massage, acupressure, music therapy) resources
- Resources for further support and/or action
- Support, with the legal team, to document sexual abuse by law enforcement
Ride Board Errors
Due to technical errors, we lost some of the data from the Ride Board. If you submitted a ride offer or request, please check the Ride Board and see if it is still there. Everything is working now, so you can resubmit.
Ride Board Online
The PGRP's ride board is now up and running. If you need a ride or can offer others a ride to the anti-G-20 actions, post it there or respond to other offers or requests through the online form on the post. Posters' email addresses are NOT publicly visible.
Materials Working Group
Childcare During the G-20
The Pittsburgh G-20 Resistance Project is happy to provide childcare for visiting dissidents. Local childcare specialists are committed to providing a safe and caring space for children during the convergence. The hours for childcare are 9:00am-9:00pm, on Thursday, September 24 and Friday, September 25. Ages for children are infant to 12.
Because of limited resources, we can only look after so many children, so please reserve a spot early. Before you apply, check with people you know in the area who might be able to look after your children.
To reserve childcare, email childcareⓐresistg20.org. We will send an application regarding specific information about your child. Please fill it out and deliver it to us as soon as possible. If you feel comfortable doing so, please provide us with your phone number, and we can contact you about any necessary information. The cut-off date for applications is September 20.
We are asking parents/guardians to bring: four days worth of weather-appropriate clothes, baby formula (if necessary, and preferably frozen), diapers, linens, toothbrushes, medicines the child needs, any security items that will help the child feel comfortable, sleeping materials, toys (with the child's name labeled on them), and kids' bottles/cups. We are asking that parents either provide food for their child, or donate $10 for childcare to purchase food. For more information, please write childcareⓐresistg20.org.
Housing Update 9/12/09 – IMPORTANT
This isn’t great news, but as of today the space we have available for housing during the actions is extremely limited. We still haven’t been able to secure a space for mass housing and we have only a very small amount of space left in individual housing. We are still hoping to have a mass housing space available, and are working on trying to find more individual housing, but as of now we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to find space for everyone who requests it.
One option folks might consider utilizing if they are able to camp and can risk arrest is to stay at the Three Rivers Climate Convergence Camp which is taking place in Schenley Park in Pittsburgh September 20-25. See www.3riversconvergence.org for more info. However, people who are considering this option need to be aware that as of now the camp is NOT A PERMITTED ACTION, but that may change at some point this week. People should stay there ONLY if they are willing and able to risk police harassment, raids and arrest. We do realize that this is not a realistic option for many people attending the actions.
Also, as we originally said on the housing webpage we REALLY need anyone who is able to stay with friends or family in Pittsburgh, or who has other ways of finding housing to use those options.
If you’ve already emailed us to request housing we will be in touch with you shortly. We also will post more updates on the site as we figure out more about the housing situation. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding – we really do want everyone who wants to come to Pittsburgh for the actions to have a place to stay, and are still working hard to accommodate as many people as we can.
In Solidarity,
The Housing Working Group of the PG20RP
Call For Housing
This September thousands of anti-authoritarians will be coming to Pittsburgh to show their opposition to the G-20 meetings taking place this September 24-25. That means, among other things, that a lot of people will need places to stay! We're looking for folks friendly to protesters and supportive of anti-G-20 organizing who can offer some sleeping space to people coming to town for G-20 actions.
Housing doesn't have to be anything fancy. If you don’t have spare beds, spaces on floors, couches and even camping space will still be appreciated. We also need housing for groups of many different sizes. If you have a huge house with space for ten people that's great, but even spaces that can only accommodate one or two people are helpful. The greatest need will be for housing during the couple of days and nights during the summit and immediately before and after, but we also anticipate there being some need for housing for a few days earlier and later than that. We can use housing for whatever period you’re able to offer it.
We also anticipate people from out of town having specific needs like child-friendly housing, accessible housing, and substance-free spaces. If you have space like this to offer, please let us know!
If you've wanted to get involved in opposing the G-20 in Pittsburgh this is a great way to give some much-needed support. It's also a chance to meet some great people, make new friends and network with activists from other cities.
If you have housing to offer, visit our website at resistg20.org/housing, where you can submit information about your space and your availability. We'll match local people offering housing with out-of-towners based on similar needs and availability. If you have any questions email us at housing@resistg20.org.
Logistics Update
Hi all! I know that yinz locally and from out of town are wondering what we're working on and maybe even looking for ways to help out/contribute! Well, here’s a brief run down of what we've been up to.
Housing:we're working on garnering spaces for mass housing (mostly with some local churches) and matching people together for individual housing. We are also working to secure creative alternative housing for those who are looking to stay longer (or need to stay longer). There will also be a list of cheap hotels for use by individuals and groups if that is something folks are interested in. Coming soon there will be a link for housing requested and housing offered that will include questionnaires for people to fill out, so that we can help yinz meet your housing needs—this will include direct email contact from the housing sub-committee to match people up or direct people/groups to mass housing options, etc.
Convergence Space: We have identified and secured a space for spokes-councils and trainings the two weeks prior to G20 actions. The location will be posted as soon as we have a concrete schedule of the trainings and spokes-councils. We are also looking to purchase (on a short term lease) space for an info center/convergence space where affinity groups etc can meet. This location will also be posted when we have that secured for sure.
Medics: We have hooked up with the Eastern Seeds of Peace Collective and they are going to focus on coordinating medic trainings. We are still currently finding a space for a wellness center. People interested in plugging into medics should email medics@resistg20.org.
Food: We are currently looking into networking with FNB collectives locally, state-wide, and nationally. We are also networking with individuals involved in organizing the crime think conference and finding out what resources they are using for food---such as where they are dumpstering, etc. If you are interested in helping to secure food, know a place where we could cook/serve meals, or want to partake in the cooking of the meals, please get in touch with us!!
FUNdraising: We have three set dates where we will be having FUNdraisers to benefit the logistics working group. Funds will go towards securing our convergence space as well as any other fees we would need to take care of for mass housing, etc. The dates of these events are July 24th, August 21st, and September 18th. They will be located at Belvederes at the corner of Butler and Fisk in Lawrenceville. We will also have t-shirts to sell that will also benefit the logistics working group.
